Comfort Zones
by mngurlstuckinva
Summary: Can a vic help both Cath and Gil out of their comfort zones? CathGil
1. Chapter 1

**Comfort Zones**

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of CIS. I only wish I did.

Author's Note: If you read this, please, please, please review it. I know it doesn't always happen because truthfully, I don't always review, but I would really like it.

Gil Grissom walked in from the next room and tried to see what Catherine Willows was looking at, unsuccessfully, "What is it Cath?"

"Well this is what we've found in the vic's pockets." She said pointing to the strange arrangement of items spread across the table. There was a mechanical pencil, a large eraser, 16 quarters, 6 pennies, 2 nickels, and a fortune out of a fortune cookie. Gil took the fortune carefully and read it aloud, "Comfort zones are most often expanded through discomfort."

"Smart girl to keep that close." Cath smiled. Even through her smile she couldn't help but think of what she would do if it was her daughter in this girl's place.

Without warning Nick walked into the room. "Identify her yet?" He asked with an air of arrogance.

"Not yet." Cath answered, and knew the answer to her next question before asking, "How about you?"

He gave her a proud smile, "Her name's Kathryn Hoscheid. She's 17 years old and was going to Truman High School, in Minnesota."

"So how did she wind up down here?" Gil asked, his brow furrowing as he got more confused.

"That's what you have to figure out." Nick said shrugging his shoulders.

"Well do you have anything else on her?"

"Oh, yeah." Nick quickly looked back over his papers, "She lived with her mother, a Mona Hoscheid, and her grandmother, Mary Brain."

"Thanks Nick." Gil said before looking back down at the collection of evidence. Greg decided it was time to leave the two alone to figure out their case again.

"You know Gil there's just a few things that I don't understand about this. I mean, this girl was wearing a pair of 16 dollar shoes, a 12 dollar shirt, a 4 dollar watch, a couple of bracelets that she could have gotten for a few dollars anywhere, but she was wearing a pair of over 50 dollar jeans, and two rings, they were priced one at 250 dollars, and the other was 4,500 dollars! How could a teenager afford things like that?" She asked looking down again.

"Family heirlooms. There are some families that hand jewelry down to the next generation earlier than others. Hey look at this," she said holding up a slip of paper that looked like it came from a fortune cookie, " 'Comfort zones are most often expanded through discomfort."

"Smart girl to keep that around." he said taking it from her.

"I just think that we should contact her family as soon as possible."

"I'm with you on that." Gil said taking the information that Nick found for him and went to his office. Gil looked over everything one more time, trying to figure out how a 17 year old could get all the way across the country. Suddenly he spotted something that caught his attention.

"Hey Cath." He said walking back into the lab.

"What is it?" she asked, curious to know why he was back so quickly.

"There's something here that Greg forgot to mention. She had large amounts of THC in her blood."

"THC? This certainly doesn't look like a girl who would smoke that stuff."

"You can never tell." Gil said before walking back out of the room.


	2. Chapter 2

**Comfort Zones**

**Chapter 2**

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of CIS. I only wish I did.

Author's Note: If you read this, please, please, please review it. I know it doesn't always happen because truthfully, I don't always review, but I would really like it. And to those of you who reviewed my last chapter thank you.

A few hours later Gil was sitting in his office trying to file some papers on the girl he and Cath had been working on. Without warning Cath came into his office. She didn't say anything; she just sat on the couch and stared at him while he was filing the papers. Finally Gil grew tired of being stared at and asked, "Is there something you needed Cath?"

"As a matter of fact, no. I have just been trying to figure this case out. I've been beating my brains out on this for almost eight hours and I've come up with nothing. Have you been able to contact her family?" She asked getting up and pacing around the room.

"Not yet, I was trying until I realized that no one would be awake, it was only two when I called from here, that would make it three there."

"Well, where's the number, I want to try again." She asked stopping in her tracks to looking at the clock, then back at his desk.

He handed her the paper Nick had gotten for him earlier. She scanned it quickly looking for the number. Finally finding it she picked up his phone and dialed it. She only had to wait for a couple of rings before she heard someone pick up. A very groggy voice answered, "Hello?"

"Uh… hi, this is Catherine Willows from the Las Vegas Crime Lab, can I please talk to Ms. Mona Ho.. Hos… Hoscheid."

"I'm sorry, I'm I don't give money to anything."

"No! I'm not trying to collect money from anyone. I'm trying to find the mother of Kathryn Hoscheid." Cath tried to say quickly so she wouldn't hang up on her.

"Kathryn? Why would you be looking for Kathryn? Has she done anything?"

"No Ms. Hoscheid." Cath said, her eyes filling with tears, while trying to find the words to tell another mother what happened. "We found your daughter last night."

"What would Kitty be doing down there?" The woman asked in a frightened tone.

"Ms. Hoscheid, I'm sorry to have to tell you this, but your daughter was found dead last night. She was hit by a car."

"Could you say that again? I don't think I heard you right." Mona said quietly, obviously trying to understand what she had just heard.

"I'm sorry Ms. Hoscheid." Cath said on the verge of crying. "We found your daughter last night. She's dead." Cath finally managed to choke out before her tears broke free.

There was an eerie silence on the line for a few seconds. Then Mona's harsh voice rang through, "I'll be there as soon as possible." A distinct click was heard on Cath's end following her voice.

Cath set the phone down and collapsed into one of the chairs in front of Grissom's desk, her head in here hands, her body shaking from her sobs.

Gil bolted from behind his desk, he went to Cath and wrapped his arms around her, whispering soothing words into her ear. He held her like this for what seemed to be a lifetime. She buried her face into his neck and continued crying. Soon his shirt was completely soaked and her tears stopped falling.

She slowly lifted her head from his shoulder and wiped away the remaining tears. "I'm sorry Gil. I just kept imagining that is was me who was getting the phone call. What would I do if someone had to call me and tell me that Lindsey was a thousand miles away from home and she got killed? I couldn't handle it Gil, I just couldn't." She sobbed letting her head fall back onto her shoulder and letting the tears fall again.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of CIS. I only wish I did.

Author's Note: If you read this, please, please, please review it. I know it doesn't always happen because truthfully, I don't always review, but I would really like it. And to those of you who reviewed my last chapter thank you.

Catherine was woken up by a very loud pounding on her door. She glanced at her clock and found it to be five minutes after noon. For most people this wouldn't be a problem, but Catherine had worked all night. She slowly got herself out of bed. Moving across the room she threw on her robe and straightened the back of her hair that seemed to always be messed up after she'd been asleep.

She made her way to the door hearing the constant pounding as she walked. Finally opening it she found a woman. The woman looked to be somewhere between 35 and 55, although she couldn't quite tell. She had light brown hair with grey showing through on the roots. Her eyes were dark brown, almost black, yet they seemed kind. She was a heavy set woman, not fat, just heavier with a round face that showed few lines, except for three directly above the bridge of her nose and between her dark, bushy eyebrows. The look in her eyes was showing her fear no matter how much she was trying to hide it. Instantly Cath knew this had to be the girl's mother, Mona Hoscheid.

Mona looked her over and smiled slightly, "Graveyard shift, huh?"

"How could you tell?" Cath joked.

"I work the same. I'd just gotten to sleep when you called." Mona replied, her eyes giving away her hurt and fear.

"Please, come in." Cath said moving aside so Mona could walk in. Mona walked through the door and smiled. Cath shut the door behind her and lead her into the living room. They sat in a very uncomfortable silence for a few seconds, truing to figure out what to say to one another. Finally Cath stood up and asked, "Would you like a cup of coffee?"

Mona just looked up at her with the slightest of smiles and said, "I would love some."

A few hours later Cath and Mona had started getting to know each other. They were sitting in the living room simply chatting. They sat in a relaxed silence for a few seconds when out of no where Mona asked, "So, do you have any kids?"

Cath smiled and proudly said, "One girl, her name is Lindsey, she's eight."

"I had a feeling you had kids." Mona replied taking a sip of her coffee.

Cath looked around for a second and found a picture of her. She picked it up and turning around she saw a tear start to form in Mona's eye. She gave her the picture and couldn't help but feel sorry for the woman sitting across from her. Mona swallowed the huge lump forming in her throat and gave Cath a tearful smile saying, "She's beautiful. You'll have to watch out in a few years, she'll have all the boys chasing after her."

"I just hope not all the boys." Cath joked, trying to lighten the mood a little.

Mona smiled through tears starting to spill out onto her cheeks. She ran her finger over Lindsey's bright blonde hair and instantly thought of her daughter's dark brown. She looked into Lindsey's crystal blue eyes and thought back to her daughter's chocolate brown. There was no physical similarity in the two girls, but to Mona it felt as if looking at Lindsey she was looking at her own daughter.

The tears started coming with more force until she finally tore her eyes away from the little girl and handed the picture back to Cath. Mona finally smiled and looked back up at Cath, "I mean it Catherine, you'll have to be careful. She's gorgeous."

"Thanks." Cath smiled looking down at the picture and then setting it back down. She wasn't sure what to say next. Looking down at her coffee mug she found it empty. "Need a refill?"


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of CIS. I only wish I did.

Author's Note: If you read this, please, please, please review it. I know it doesn't always happen because truthfully, I don't always review, but I would really like it. And to those of you who reviewed my last chapter thank you.

Without either of the women noticing they'd been talking for hours. It was like they'd been old friends that hadn't seen each other for a very long time. Neither noticed that they'd been speaking do long until Cath heard her alarm clock going off in her bedroom. "Oh! I'm so sorry." Mona exclaimed, "I didn't realize you had to work tonight."

Cath smiled, "It's okay. I've gone to work on less sleep than this before."

Mona let a small smile creep onto her face. "I know the feeling. Kitty always got me up at noon, usually with lunch ready. Then ever since she was little she would make me go to bed at seven. I think she must've started that when she was seven or eight, but as she got older she got more forceful about it. She always wanted to take care of me."

"She sounds like a great kid." Cath smiled standing up to go get dressed for work, "Would you like go come with me tonight? You could sleep in the extra bedroom if you'd like after shift." She offered.

"Sure. That would be great."

By the time Mona and Cath made their way into the break room Mona could already tell that this place was completely different than anything she'd ever seen before. Sure she'd been to New York a few times when she was younger, but this was something entirely new. If New York thought that is was the city that never slept, it had another think coming; Vegas beat that by a long shot. Sure New York had the glitz and glamour of Broadway, but everywhere you looked in Vegas there were theatres and casinos and twenty-four hour wedding chapels. Both places were definitely different than where she came from, the tiny Minnesota town of Truman, where she'd lived all of her life.

Mona followed as Cath walked through the halls and down to the elevator. She wasn't exactly sure where they were going, but she had a feeling that she shouldn't ask. When the elevator stopped she had a sudden sinking feeling, especially when she stepped off and saw the she was in the basement, directly across from the morgue.

She followed Cath into the cold, dark room where she saw what looked like the form of a girl's body under the white sheet laying on one of the lab tables. Now that she was there she actually started to relax. She couldn't exactly say why, but this place had some sort of soothing power over her.

Without Mona noticing a man walked into the room. She was casually looking around the room, not really studying it, just kind of seeing what's there. As her eyes moved to the door she saw a man. He was a little taller than she was. He had salt and pepper gray hair closer to the salt side. He was dressed in his normal grayish-green smock and leaning on his cane. From the sad look on his face it looked like he'd been having a hard time. No one could tell if it was because of something at work or not, but he didn't look like a happy person.

Cath smiled when she saw him, "Hey Doc. How's it been so far tonight?"

"Slow so far. No new ones."

Cath slowly moved towards the door, "Doc, this is Mona Hoscheid; her daughter is the one who came in last night. Mona, this is Doc Robbins, he's the head of our department down here. Doc, do you think you could keep Mona company for a little while, I have to talk to Grissom."

"No problem, as long as she doesn't mind sitting up with the dead."

"My family used to dig graves, the dead don't bother me."

Cath smiled, "On that note, I'll leave you two to do… whatever it is you do."

A while later Grissom heard a knock on his door. He glanced up just as Cath slipped through the door.

"What's up Cath?" Grissom asked looking back to the stack of papers sitting on his desk.

"Do you remember the girl we found last night? The seventeen-year-old from Minnesota?"

"Of course, why?" he asked, looking at her over his glasses.

Cath told him everything that had happened of the course of the day. He listened carefully while she told the story, nodding at the right times. Finally stopping, she leaned back in the chair.

"Sounds like you've had along day." He said after a long pause. They sat in silence for a little while longer, neither knowing what to say. Finally looking up Cath asked, "Do you remember what that fortune cookie slip we found on the girl said?"

"Comfort zones are most often expanded through discomfort." He said casually, not even picking his head back up.

"Yeah, well don't you feel that we've sort of gone into our own comfort zone." She asked trying to see what his reaction to this would be.

"What do you mean?" He asked, now looking up and leaning back in his chair.

"I mean, being comfortable with each other is one thing; but that doesn't work when we're so comfortable with the way that things are going now, that one or both of scared to do something different. Do you know what I mean?"

Taking off his glasses and setting them down on the top of the stack, "So what is it that you want to do differently?"

Looking him square in the eyes and taking a deep breath she pursued, "Would it be alright to give you an example rather than tell you?"

"Okay," he replied wearily.

Slowly getting up from her chair, and sauntering around the desk she stopped directly in front of him. Sensing that something was coming he stood up. She easily wrapped her arms around his neck. She brought his head down and put her lips to his in one easy motion. For a moment he stood there stunned. It took him a second to figure out what was happening, but once he did he went with it.

Throwing his arms around her small waist, he leaned her up against the desk further deepening the kiss. Passion, deep and true ran through both of them until neither knew where one stopped and the other began, nor cared for that matter.

They kept kissing until Cath finally ran out of breath. Breaking apart they both hat to gasp for air. They both stood there staring at each other for a long moment, until Gil sat back down in his chair. Cath took a deep breath asking, "Is that a good enough example for you?"

He smirked, "It's not exactly a discomfort, but then again it's not something we do on a normal basis."

She smiled back at him and leaned in, stealing a small kiss, "I better go check on Mona. I'll be back later."

Getting up quickly he said, "Not so fast."

She turned to look at him, confused. He went up to her and kissed her again, with even more passion than the first. He broke the kiss quickly, but still left her head fuzzy, "Okay, now I'll let you go."

Leaving the room quickly, still in a daze she made her way to the elevator. On the ride down she thought about the events of the day. She still couldn't wrap her mind around it. First Mona shows up on her doorstep, then practically making out with Grissom in his office, not that she was going to complain.

The doors of the elevator opened suddenly, giving her a perfect view of the morgue. She could see Doc leaning against one of the tables with Mona in his arms. You could tell from the way her body convulsed that she was sobbing uncontrollably.

Cath suddenly felt two strong arms wrap around her waist from behind. From the scent of his cologne she could immediately tell that it was Grissom. Instantly bursting into tears she turned in his arms and hugged him like she was holding on for dear life. After a few moments of sobbing she raised her head, "I'm sorry. I just can't stop thinking about being in her place. I mean, I couldn't imagine what I would do if something like this would happen to Lindsey."

"We've had this discussion before Cath. Nothing is going to happen to you or to Lindsey." He said lightly stoking her hair.

She looked up suddenly, "How can you say that Gil! How do you know that it won't happen?"

"I know, because I'm here for both of you. I won't let anything happen to either of you."

She smiled and hugged him again. "Don't leave me Gil. I love you."

"I love you too." Gil said kissing her again.

A/N: So this is the end. I hope you all liked it. I know it was kind of short and I also know that it took forever. I do have an explanation for that. I actually lost my notebook for over three months so I apologize. Please review. P.S. if you do flames. Please write them well.


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